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Artemis

Andy Weir

Start date: February 2, 2018

Finish date: February 28, 2018

Discussion: Books of the Month

Why we're reading this: February Adult Fiction Fantasy/Sci-Fi Book of the Month
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What Members Thought

Sep 06, 2017 Kirsten rated it liked it

As the British would say, not a patch on the first. What I mean by this is it was not nearly as good as The Martian.

There were plenty of places that had me laughing out loud (much to the disgust of my elderly dog). The best funny bits are where Jazz is checking up on the gossip about the Saudi royal family.

The science sounded very plausible and I like the idea of a city on the moon. (We just haven't met up to all those futuristic ideas from the 1950s and 1960s.) However, the storyline just did ...more

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Mar 05, 2018 Amy rated it really liked it · review of another edition

This is more like a 3.5 star book for me, but I bumped it up to 4 stars because I love hard sci-fi, and it was hard sci-fi.

There were a lot of things I loved about the books:

1) Good world-building. I knew how the colony on the moon worked.
2) The main character wasn't a Mary Sue. She was intelligent, but not the best fighter, and her overestimation of her own intelligence got her (and the entire colony) into a lot of trouble.
3) The other characters weren't dumbed down to make the main character l This is more like a 3.5 star book for me, but I bumped it up to 4 stars because I love hard sci-fi, and it was hard sci-fi.

There were a lot of things I loved about the books:

1) Good world-building. I knew how the colony on the moon worked.
2) The main character wasn't a Mary Sue. She was intelligent, but not the best fighter, and her overestimation of her own intelligence got her (and the entire colony) into a lot of trouble.
3) The other characters weren't dumbed down to make the main character look good. The engineering flaws were believable.
4) Tons of nerdy sciencey space stuff.
5) The security guy was competent, which is way more realistic than what normally happens in novels. Also, more interesting.

What I didn't like
1) The main character. I liked that she was flawed, but for her upbringing, elements of her personality didn't make sense. Why was she so smart and so unmotivated? Why was she so intensely focused on being rich, other than paying back someone? None of that was addressed. Also, she was not written well for a female character-- even a tomboy most likely wouldn't say some of the things she did.
2) Wasted characters. Bob and Rudy were interesting characters, which felt like would be more integral to the story, or had additional stuff to add, but those threads were dropped towards the end of the book.
3) Main character got off easy. Way, way too easy. She didn't have enough leverage at the end. Which goes back to number 1-- I didn't like her very much. She was selfish and irresponsible and treated her friends horribly. Though she eventually asked for help, I never got the sense she learned her lesson about trying to solve everything herself.
4) The romance was painfully shoved in. The book would've been better off without it. It was forced and unnatural. It was also completely unnecessary to the plot.

I loved the Martian. I didn't need this book to be the Martian. I'm fine with comedic first-person narratives. But the MC didn't evolve enough to make it worth it. She also skated by on consequences. Other characters were left undeveloped or underdeveloped.

But the science was cool! ...more

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Nov 15, 2017 Nicole rated it really liked it

Shelves: 200in2017, hardcover

I haven't read the Martian, but when I heard this was to be a heist on the moon, I was interested. I read this in a marathon session in one day, its release day, and really enjoyed Jazz's character. While there is room for more story or something else, this was a nice slice of life. I enjoyed the idea of this, but feel like it got too 'case closed' in the end. ...more

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Nov 23, 2017 Kami rated it really liked it

Shelves: sci-fi, mystery, thriller

I loved Andy Weir's The Martian, so I was excited to read Artemis. This is a completely different type of story, so don't expect The Martian. This book is set on the moon and is about a Saudi Arabian woman, Jazz who is a smuggler. She lives in the small community living on the moon, Artemis. What I like about Andy Weir's books is the science that sounds completely plausible, but is presented in a way that a layperson can understand. I am not a mathematician, chemist or physicist but I can follow ...more

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